Misstropolis

Monday, January 14, 2008

Teen Fashion Today

by Abigail Jones and Marissa Miley

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Let’s go back in time. It’s 2002 and you’re taking your young daughter shopping. She’s ten or eleven years old, and wants to stop into Abercrombie & Fitch. You reluctantly agree, trudging towards that plaid abyss of booming music and semi-nude models. But once inside you are surprised. You find simple corduroy pants, tees, and sweats. Clean-cut young sales associates, too. Just when you’re beginning to get comfortable, you turn and see pink thongs emblazoned with the words “eye candy” and “wink wink” - in your daughter’s pre-pubescent size. You panic. So did consumer and parent groups. But A&F didn’t change a thing.

Now it’s 2008, and thongs are old news. In an earlier blog we talked about how ‘tweens and teens today are surrounded by more sex than any other generation; it’s in the music they download, the movies and TV shows they watch. And of course it’s in their clothing. A lot has changed in the past five years. Britney has gone from schoolgirl to dominatrix to ruin. Lindsay and Paris have given way to a new flock of sexy young things: Rihanna, Vanessa, Miley, and Blake. The must-watch high school show has escalated from the tame Dawson’s Creek to the glamorous O.C. and now the racy Gossip Girl. Many teens are taking their cues from celebrities, TV, and magazines; what, then, can we expect in fashion today?

If your daughter watches The Hills, Keeping up with the Kardashians, or any other reality series about privileged celebrities, odds are she wishes she could flaunt that DVF (Diane Von Furstenberg) dress and carry that Tory Burch tote. Today it’s all about the brand. And more often than not, that brand is expensive and flashy, with gigantic logos that some teens may recognize more easily than answers to their own homework assignments. The very same designer items your daughter wants are the ones you covet, and we covet, too.

Girls strive to look sexy because sexy is what they see - they think it will help them get further, gain confidence, and earn attention. Can you blame them? Young stars like Vanessa Hudgens are beautiful and successful. They jet here and there, buy anything they want, are photographed looking fabulous, and are even rumored to receive Audi S4s from their boyfriends for their 19th birthdays. Why would any girl not want to emulate them?

For some reason, many parents are going along with it. We’ve talked with countless mothers who buy whatever their daughters want because everyone has it. Moms want their daughters to fit in and be happy. Besides, sometimes the item in question doesn’t seem so bad. There may be nothing overtly sexual about the cover of Ashley Tisdale’s new CD, Headstrong. But there she is with striped tights over her skinny legs, a slinky pink dress, and long, tousled hair covering her chest. She’s 22, but she’s also a star in the High School Musical trifecta, those Disney movies popular even with toddlers. Pressures to look sexy and wealthy start young. Juicy Couture now markets a t-shirt to young girls with these words printed down the front: “Sugar, Glitter, Cupcakes, Puppies, Diamonds, Juicy, Couture.”
Apparently, diamonds are little girls’ best friends, too.

So what’s in?  Glitter, obviously. Short skits or sweater dresses with leggings. According to the December/January TeenVogue http://www.teenvogue.com/teamvogue/toc/2007/11/toc: a Luella cardigan ($185), Sonia Rykiel shorts ($420), and an A.P.C. sweater ($220) - and these are the more moderately priced items. More common in the style section are essentials like Chanel shoes ($965). The ads between the pages of TeenVogue parade Marc Jacobs, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton, plus seven full pages celebrating the special edition Hayden Panettiere bag by Dooney & Burke ($500). But there are a few welcome surprises, like The Gap and American Eagle. All this in a magazine geared toward teenage girls (who either have big dreams or parents with big bank accounts).

Teenage boys face fashion pressures, too. They may not be as evident as pressures to wear knee-high boots or carry a Coach bag, but they’re there, depending on the look the guys are going for. Lacoste shirts, vintage tees, hipster style, grunge—it’s all featured in the same TV shows, worn by Vanessa, Rihanna, and Blake’s boyfriends. There will also always be pressure for boys to bulk up. Zac Efron of High School Musical fame has apparently been working out http://www.juniorcelebs.com/zac-efron-working-out/. At least that’s what the teen mags are saying, and he’s not the only one. The latest issue of J-14 (the teen mag covered in ads from Weight Watchers and Barbizon Models) splashed before and after pictures of Daniel Radcliffe, Corbin Blue, and Ryan Sheckler bearing their chiseled arms and abs like grown men.

We’re not saying that teenage girls should wear turtlenecks and bad jeans. We were 16 too; we remember wanting to look cute, be liked, and get attention. We’re not saying boys should wear sweats or avoid the gym, either. What we are saying is that we can all pay more attention to what kids are wearing, and what’s being marketed to them.

Middle school offers the perfect cocktail for bad fashion: puberty, crushes, and peer pressure. It only increases from there, so that by the time teenagers hit high school, their fashion becomes an extension of their desire to figure out who want to be (versus who they really are), who their friends are, where they want to go to college, and everything in between. As adults and parents, we can certainly be better observers. Look at your son. Why is he wearing his pants so low - are those his boxers? And your daughter… why does she insist on that short short dress with those tight tight leggings? You may not be able to control what they wear, but you can stay involved and strive to understand—and perhaps through understanding, have a little influence, too.